Statement demanding resignation of Police Chief Saunders

SAUNDERS MUST GO!

Queers Crash the Beat is calling for the immediate resignation of Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders.

Under Chief Saunders, police shootings have continued to go unchecked, unpunished. Carding still hasn’t ended. The police mounted a sting operation targeting men who have sex with men in Marie Curtis Park. TAVIS continues to target the city’s most marginalized. Drug users, sex workers, mental health consumers continue to be harrassed and criminalized in their neighbourhoods.

And then, when Bruce McArthur targeted and murdered members of our communities whom he thought would not be missed, Mark Saunders blamed the LGBTQ community for not doing the work the Toronto Police failed to do.

Our communities have no confidence in Mark Saunders. The people of Toronto have no confidence in Mark Saunders.

This has gone on long enough. We echo the long-held and thoroughly justified anger of so many in our communities. We recognize especially the resilience and leadership of Black, Indigenous, POC, queer, trans, poz, drug using, sex working and street-involved people in the face of ongoing police violence.

Queers Crash the Beat looks forward to the day when police are disarmed and ultimately disbanded. In the meantime, we are calling for the resignation of Saunders as a necessary step toward transformative accountability.

No more shit! Saunders must go!

Join us Thursday, March 22 at 12 noon outside of TPS Headquarters, 40 Carlton St. Bring your love and rage.